Today my fabulous "intro course" students learnt how to use silver clay. They learnt setting with CZ stones, Dichroic Glass Cabs, Resin work (they even did some soldering too).
It's why I teach, I get such a thrill watching my students brush the white off their first fired pieces & seeing the silver emerge. The Oooh moment followed by the "Oh my Goodness this is mine & I made it!!" It was really sweet as I took the photo then whipped it up onto the screen so they could see it. One of them said "I saw your last student pictures and thought that NO WAY were they their first pieces, but now they're mine and they look so good!" I was so proud of her :)
Your Blog is just wonderful!!! I met someone last night who told me a person could use a torch (as in a lampworkers torch) to make the silver PMC pcs instead of a kiln. is this correct in any way?
Thank you :) Absolutely you can use a torch to fire silverclay (though a lampworkers torch would be too fierce) If you go to the tabs at the top and click on Tutorial Index you'll find a"HowTo" plus a review of the Nimrod 500 (an excellent torch for that purpose) The one proviso is you need very good ventilation as you're close to the burningoff the binder process Nicola xx
Wow! Great, and beginners?! I wish I lived close enough to take a class from you! I think you should hold one in Missouri.. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's why I teach, I get such a thrill watching my students brush the white off their first fired pieces & seeing the silver emerge.
ReplyDeleteThe Oooh moment followed by the "Oh my Goodness this is mine & I made it!!"
It was really sweet as I took the photo then whipped it up onto the screen so they could see it. One of them said "I saw your last student pictures and thought that NO WAY were they their first pieces, but now they're mine and they look so good!"
I was so proud of her :)
Nic x
Your Blog is just wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteI met someone last night who told me a person could use a torch (as in a lampworkers torch) to make the silver PMC pcs instead of a kiln. is this correct in any way?
Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely you can use a torch to fire silverclay (though a lampworkers torch would be too fierce)
If you go to the tabs at the top and click on Tutorial Index you'll find a"HowTo" plus a review of the Nimrod 500 (an excellent torch for that purpose)
The one proviso is you need very good ventilation as you're close to the burningoff the binder process
Nicola xx